Publications

Socio-Economic Review, online first. Previous research has yielded mixed evidence on the relationship between age and job satisfaction. While there is broad consensus that job satisfaction tends to increase from midlife into older age, considerable debate persists regarding whether it rises or falls during the early stages of a career. This study examines this relationship…

Over the last five years, the Excluded Lives team has been examining the patterns and processes of school exclusions across the UK in order to identify those factors which may exacerbate or reduce exclusions. One of most the striking aspects is the contrasting accounts of the causes of exclusion provided by professionals and pupils. Drawing…

Having safe schools is of the upmost importance, but evidence has shown that school buildings often do not achieve this and that the most disadvantaged students get the worst provision. This research examines whether school buildings can create the conditions for disruptive behaviour. Using the example of the UK’s 21st Century Schools Programme, which has…

As part of a larger ESRC-funded project on the political economies of school exclusions in the UK, this research examines alternative provision (AP). AP is where children and young people at risk of exclusion are removed from mainstream education. The AP sector does not provide a transitional pathway. Instead it is a complex disarray of…

There are widespread calls for increased demographic diversity in science, often linked to the epistemic claim that including more perspectives will improve the quality of the knowledge produced. By distinguishing between demographic and epistemic diversity, we show that this is only true some of the time. There are cases where increasing demographic diversity will not…

This article explores the complex relationship between civil society, social inequality, and nationhood through examining the motivations of elite members of Welsh civil society as they volunteer to serve on the boards of a wide range of Welsh charities. We interviewed nearly 60 trustees and patrons, all of whom enjoyed successful and influential careers in…

Over the last decade or so, the rate of growth of academic publications involving discussion of ‘citizen science’ and ‘community science’, and similar variants, has risen exponentially. These fluid terms, with no fixed definition, cover a continuum of public participation within a range of scientific activities. It is, therefore, apposite and timely to examine the…

This study investigates the evolving demand for graduate skills in the British workforce, leveraging a task-based approach with data from the Skills and Employment Survey Series. Focused on the changing importance of job tasks related to graduate skills, the research explores the mapping of these tasks to educational attainment, discerns the price employers pay for…

Socio-Economic Review, online first. This study investigates the evolving demand for graduate skills in the British workforce, leveraging a task-based approach with data from the Skills and Employment Survey Series. Focused on the changing importance of job tasks related to graduate skills, the research explores the mapping of these tasks to educational attainment, discerns the…

This paper is concerned with the reproduction of rural elites and the role of volunteering and participation in rural civil society institutions. Set in the context of popular discourses of the gentleman farmer and the agricultural elite as historic (as opposed to contemporary) leaders in the countryside, this research extends longstanding debates on rural class…